


Where there's death, there's life

by Sassy_Babe



Series: Stories of Carl Ishikawa [2]
Category: Lupin III
Genre: Day of the Death, Fluff, M/M, Memories, Nostalgia, OC, Obon, Sadness, Travel, goemon grandmother, goemon hometown, gravestone, jigoe child, tomb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 17:28:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29737347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sassy_Babe/pseuds/Sassy_Babe
Summary: Goemon take Carl, his son, to meet a very important person
Relationships: Ishikawa Goemon XIII/Jigen Daisuke, Jigoe - Relationship
Series: Stories of Carl Ishikawa [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2205273
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Where there's death, there's life

**Author's Note:**

> Carl is a jigoe kid OC that has been created in the Lupin Gang Discord server. This fanfiction is from an idea of one of the members

Obon.  
Day of the Dead

For Goemon it was a very important day. He remembered when, as a child, every year he and his grandmother celebrated this day by going to the cemetery to honor their ancestors by taking care of their graves and bringing some offerings.  
Many years had passed and Goemon was rarely able to celebrate this day by going to the cemetery where his ancestors were buried, but this year would have been different.

Carl was now over a year old and Goemon intended to pass on this tradition to his son and let him know his origins. Jigen was completely in agreement and supportive of this decision.

Jigen had finished loading the last things into the car while Goemon was finishing preparing Carl.  
It was going to be quite a long journey, so the two parents had preferred to equip themselves with some items for their son, in addition to the offerings for the deceased.  
Once they finished getting ready Goemon and Carl walked out holding hands. They both wore yukata. Goemon's was a pastel pink, while Carl's was a delicate teal  
"Otosan, where?"  
"Mh?"  
Goemon had turned to Carl who was staring at him with his green eyes. Carl was learning to speak and Goemon realized that he wanted to know where they were going  
"To find some relatives, Carl"

Finally the 2 had arrived at the car where Jigen was waiting for them  
“You have finally arrived. Come on Carl get in” The kid released the samurai's hand to run to meet his father who took him in his arms and gave him a kiss on the forehead before helping him get in while Goemon watched the scene with a slight smile on his face.

As expected, the journey was quite long, plus there were a couple of stops to make Carl stretch his legs and in the end he fell asleep.  
After nearly 4 hours Jigen took the road that would take them to Goemon's hometown. The latter felt a wave of nostalgia and memories seeing the places of his childhood after so long.

Jigen parked the car a little further downstream from the village, because from then on the road would only be accessible on foot.  
Goemon got out of the car and woke Carl.  
"Carl, wake up" He called the kid while shaking him gently. Meanwhile Jigen had taken all the offerings that had been prepared.  
Carl stretched and yawned before stepping down and taking both of his dads hand. "Arrived?"  
"Yes kiddo, we arrived" Jigen replied, nodding and smiling at him.

When they arrived inside the small village, Goemon's heart sank.  
Everything had been abandoned.  
It wasn’t something to be too surprised, given that the young people were all gone and the only inhabitants were elderly people, but that did not make Goemon feel better.  
The samurai was about to cry, but shook his head. He couldn't cry, not in front of his family  
"Hey Goemon, are you okay?" Goemon turned and noticed that Jigen was looking at him with a slightly worried air  
"Yes, it's nothing"

The 3 continued to walk until they came to a road in the woods that would lead them to the cemetery.  
Goemon took Carl in his arms. The path was rough and Carl could have fallen and hurt himself.  
After a few steps Goemon started talking to Carl about his childhood "You know Carl, when I was little I used to walk this road with my grandmother"  
"Grandma?"  
“Yes, she is the one who raised me. She taught me everything. It is thanks to her if I am the person I am today”A myriad of memories began to come to the mind of the samurai  
“It is thanks to my grandmother if I learned to cook. I helped her with housework every day and we spent a lot of time together. She often told me stories of our ancestors"  
The child was listening with great interest and even Jigen, who was slightly behind them, was listening in rigorous silence  
"Every year on this day we made this path to honor the graves of our ancestors”

The samurai stopped. The memories of his childhood were overlapping with other thoughts. His hometown now deserted and his grandmother, who had raised him and taught him everything, was no longer there.  
She died a few years ago, but among the various vicissitudes faced with Lupin and the arrival of Carl, Goemon had not been able to attend her funeral. He had only managed to go to her grave once.  
Goemon still remembered her wrinkled smile, her snow-white hair and her hands always ready to console him.

"Otosan!"  
Goemon was awakened from his thoughts by Carl, who hasn’t stopped calling him, and by his little hands caressing his cheeks. Goemon touched his cheek with one hand and noticed that it was wet. How long had he been crying?  
Apparently long enough to worry not only Carl, but also Jigen, who in the meantime had joined them  
“What's going on, Goemon? You're crying"  
"Nothing serious, I was just having memories"  
At the thought of his grandmother Goemon shed more tears  
"Otosan, stop!"  
Goemon looked at Carl, who had an expression between sad and angry.

The samurai thought about how happy his grandmother would have been to meet Carl and felt like he was about to cry again. He remembered how his grandmother had taught him that there is no point in crying about the past. Goemon smiled at Carl and hugged him to reassure him  
“It's okay. Otosan is fine”Goemon wiped his tears with a sleeve of his kimono, so as to soothe Jigen too, and started walking again.

When they reached the end of the path they found themselves facing a space full of grass, with several tombstones that seemed to be sticking out of the ground. Goemon put Carl on the ground and took his hand, while with the other he was taking the basket with the various offerings that Jigen was holding.  
Father and son walked towards a tombstone, more recent than the others.  
Jigen didn’t follow them. This was an intimate and personal moment for Goemon, following him would have been rude.

When he arrived in front of the tomb, Goemon put down the basket and knelt. He took both of Carl's hands in his and the child turned to look at him.  
“Carl, these are the graves of our ancestors. You must always honor them, remember that" The child nodded  
"This is my grandmother's grave. She would have been very happy to meet you. Why don't you greet her?"  
Goemon released Carl, who turned to look at the tomb for a few minutes, almost unsure on what to say.  
He made a small bow, Otosan had taught him that this was how new people greeted each other.  
"Hi Grandma, I'm Carl"  
Goemon watched with a heart full of joy as 2 of the most important people in his life met for the first time.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to the server for giving me ideas :)  
> And thanks to all of you for reading


End file.
